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Technique

  1. Take a Dead bug position, with only the lower back in contact with the ground.
  2. Extend one leg forward while moving the opposite arm overhead.
  3. Return your leg and arm to the starting position and repeat on the other side.

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Form tips

  • Keep your head neutral: do not crane your neck forward. It may help to look at the ceiling.
  • Aim to be in contact with the ground with as small of an area of your lower back as possible. This will create additional Abs engagement.
Logging: Each repetition involves working both sides.
Risks
  • If this exercise causes neck pain, rest your head gently on the ground or on a pillow. You might be straining your neck unnecessarily. Once you are comfortable with the exercise with your head resting, lift it slightly off the ground, taking care to keep your neck neutral (no craning forward).

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Muscles

Strength

Primary

  • Abs
  • Obliques

Secondary

  • Pelvis
  • Quadriceps
  • Hip adductors
  • Rectus abdominis
  • External oblique
  • Internal oblique
  • Iliacus
  • Rectus femoris
  • Psoas major

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Equipment

Ground (hands or body)
Ground (hands or body)

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Appears in

Joint movements
Trunkflexion
trains stretches

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Progressions

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Stability ball alternating dead bug

Novice

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Regressions

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Dead bug march

Beginner

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Variations

e11d

Stability ball alternating dead bug

Novice
e0zn

Lying alternating leg raise

Beginner
e0xc

Butt walk

Beginner
e06q

Lying legs raise

Beginner
e0a9

One-leg sitting pike compression

Beginner
e0gw

Sitting leg extensions

Beginner
Want to log this exercise? Open it in Calistree. Text and images are used under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; the video plays from the original source.